Wrestling fans: Count your blessings

As Thanksgiving Day draws to a close -- and, as I write my 400th article as College Wrestling Examiner -- it seems only appropriate for those of us who call ourselves amateur wrestling fans in the US to take stock, and count our blessings.

Here are some positive aspects to celebrate:

• Over 60 new college programs added in the past decade, according to the National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA).   In the past month or so, new programs have been announced at Wayland Baptist University, Lake Erie College, Ohio Valley University and Shorter College.  (Sadly, 28 college programs were eliminated... but, do the math, and it comes out to a net gain.)
• Approximately 8,400 college men and women compete in wrestling at various types of programs -- NCAA Division I, II, and III, as well as in NCWA, NAIA, and NJCCA.
• Over 265,000 boys and girls wrestle in high school, with state tournaments in 49 states (Mississippi is the outlier).  Since the 2002-2003 season, the number of high school wrestlers has grown by 30,000!
• The explosion in MMA/UFC helps fuel amateur wrestling interest.  Mixed martial arts competitions, including those sponsored by UFC, are setting new records for attendance, as well as free TV ratings and pay-per-view audience totals. What's more, amateur wrestling benefits directly from having former college mat stars like Brock Lesnar, Randy Couture, Cain Valesquez, CB Dollaway, Urijah Faber, Jake Rosholt, Matt Hamill and dozens more find success in MMA competition vs athletes from other combat disciplines.
• Continued record attendance at NCAA wrestling championships... including more than 90,000 fans for the three days of the 2009 NCAA Division I tournament in St Louis, making it one of the best-attended college championships in any sport.
• More ways to follow the sport. In addition to traditional magazines such as Amateur Wrestling News, WIN (Wrestling Insider Newsmagazine), and Wrestling USA, there are countless websites devoted to amateur wrestling at all levels, including TheMat, InterMat, TheWrestlingMall, TheOpenMat, Wrestling411, TakedownRadio, FloWrestling and more. Plus dozens of blogs devoted to amateur wrestling and mixed martial arts... along with plenty of online discussion groups and forums.  In other words, there's a wealth of sources for up-to-the-second scores, video clips of mat action and instruction, audio interviews, interesting articles about top wrestlers, and the latest news about our sport.
• More books about wrestling.  Just in the past 12 months, there have been at least a handful of brand-new novels about wrestling aimed at young readers (the future of the sport)... along with excellent biographies about three-time NCAA champ and 1956 Olympic silver medalist Dan Hodge (Mike Chapman's Oklahoma Shooter) and two-time NCAA champ and long-time Lehigh University coach Greg Strobel (Jamie Moffatt's Strobel: Stories from a Life in Wrestling)... not to mention A Century of Penn State Wrestling, a wonderful history book.
• A summer filled with exciting college coaching changes -- including Cael Sanderson going to Penn State, Kevin Jackson to Iowa State, Shawn Charles to Arizona State... we could go on and on. Any way you look at it, all these changes should translate to a wrestling season filled with surprises and edge-of-your-seat excitement.

You can probably think of some positive developments of your own, too.  So... give thanks.

Resources

For links to the various media sources mentioned in this article, check out the list on the right-hand column on this page.

College Wrestling 101: How many college programs -- and wrestlers -- are in the US?

TheMat.com's college wrestling scores for the week of November 23-29

Follow College Wrestling Examiner Mark Palmer on Twitter